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Wimbledon rooting interest Andy Murray is one win from his first Wimbledon final.

The Journal provides minute-by-minute analysis of the second Wimbledon semifinal between Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Carl Bialik and Tom Perrotta offer courtside commentary on the match from The All England Club.

When Rafael Nadal lost his second-round match here last week and optimistic British tennis fans noticed that meant Andy Murray would have an easier path to the final and a chance to end 76 years of waiting for the next British major champion, the more cautious among them pointed out that Murray had to win three more matches to do so. It took a race against the clock, against rain delays and against a dogged Spanish tennis player not named Nadal, but Murray has made it through to the Wimbledon semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. The last two times, he lost at this stage to Nadal, a five-time Wimbledon finalist and two-time champion. In 2009, Murray lost at this stage to a big-serving underdog in Andy Roddick. This time he’ll face another big-serving underdog in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is no Nadal — Tsonga has never reached the final here — but is very dangerous on grass. Murray can ask Roger Federer about that: Last year Tsonga put the first blemish on Federer’s record when going ahead by two sets to none at a major. Or Murray can ask himself: A couple of weeks before that Federer upset, Tsonga nearly beat Murray on another grass court in West London at the Queen’s Club.

This may feel like Murray’s opportunity to finally break through, but then it also feels like Tsonga’s. The Frenchman has been the most consistent threat to the big four’s dominance of tennis since breaking through to the 2008 Australian Open final. This time, instead of having to face one of them in a quarterfinal, he got No. 30 Philipp Kohlschreiber. In Paris last month Tsonga broke the hearts of the local fans by squandering four match points to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. This time he can break the heart of local fans outside of his home country by ending Murray’s quest one step short of a final again.

The winner will face Roger Federer in the final as a heavy underdog. But today, Federer and Novak Djokovic played the undercard to Tsonga and Murray, and not only because Murray is British. Their match should be a highly entertaining one, judging from that Queen’s Club encounter last year that featured many trademark Tsonga dives to the turf — to lunge for volleys, not to feign injury — as well as a Murray winner difficult to name because it is so unusual. (Tweener cross-court drop shot?) Each man has great feel at net and moves well on grass. Tsonga’s impulse is to attack, sometimes against all logic. Murray’s is to defend, also sometimes in logic-defying ways. Each loves drop shots and running them down. And each is a much tougher competitor than his on-court demeanor would suggest: Murray’s is anguished, Tsonga’s jokey.

Tsonga, a crowd-pleaser, has no problem disappointing the crowd, nor in practicing a little gamesmanship in putting pressure on his opponent. He said after his quarterfinal win: “I think here for Andy is difficult because he’s alone. I mean, in France, it’s OK. We have many players, and that’s fine. But here for him it’s really difficult because every eyes are on him and it’s tough for him.”

OK, here we go with the second men’s semifinal. The roof is open, and that’s good for Murray, I think. Tsonga has a great indoor game; Murray is better at dealing with the elements. He opens with three strong serves and leads 40-0.

Murray holds after Tsonga misses a backhand. That’s the strategy from the baseline for Murray today: Attack Tsonga’s backhand. It’s far and away his weaker shot. This is a good matchup for Murray. He leads Tsonga 5-1 in their six meetings, and Tsonga doesn’t return serve well — and grass aids Murray’s serve a lot. The only time Tsonga has beaten Murray was during the 2008 Australian Open, when he was playing the best tennis of his life.

A strong backhand down the line, and Murray leads 2-0. Crazy thing about people/fans here: They expect Murray to win this match. Even the British journalists are saying they are cautiously optimistic, rather than, say, believing that Murray will get to match point and then be crushed by a boulder that falls off of Mt. Everest and somehow bounces into Centre Court. I guess that’s what happens when a British man doesn’t win Wimbledon for 4.6 million years (actually, it was Fred Perry in 1936, but close enough).

The sun is shining at Wimbledon, the skies are blue, Andy Murray is dominating in the semifinals — what’s going on here? Forehand passing shot for Murray and it’s 0-15. Tsonga looks slow out here. Not reacting well, not anticipating anything that Murray is doing. Murray looks very comfortable.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer is giving a press conference: “I am aware that the tournament isn’t over,” he says. Look out, Murray (or Tsonga). Federer is so close to No. 17, and he’s not taking the chance lightly.

Murray goes to the net and Tsonga hits a nice angle to force a miss. 15-40. He saves one break point and then another with a perfect forehand crosscourt right on the line (Tsonga gets there, but can’t do anything with it). Tsonga nearly rolls his ankle on the point and kicks the grass. Deuce.

That last hold from Murray, with two aces down the stretch, was very important because Tsonga is a streaky player. When he’s on, you just have to try to stay even with him. Tsonga played a pretty good game but Murray escaped and can still win the set by holding serve twice more.

Tsonga is running out of ideas on his backhand. He hit a good one last game that Murray bettered with that amazing forehand passing shot. Then he just missed a backhand slice approach shot that wouldn’t have been very good if it had gone in. He did make one there, though, to draw an error and hold.

Here’s Murray’s chance to serve out the set. Tsonga takes a quick break to retape his finger. The chair umpire overrules a call and says Murray’s serve is out; Murray challenges and the chair umpire is wrong. 15-0.

Nice Tsonga backhand volley to get to 15-15, but a Murray serve draws an error and he’s two points from the first set. He gets there with two forehand winners, showing good results from aggression from that wing. He’s two sets from his first Wimbledon final. If Murray goes on to win this match, and then beats Federer in a final, he’ll still have to do one more thing to fully match Fred Perry in the hearts and minds of Britons: win a table-tennis world championship. Perry won one of those in 1929.

Tsonga hits a forehand into the net and a forehand wide. So far, this is not the Tsonga who beat Federer here last year. He’s borderline bad at the moment. Not moving well, missing forehands, missing backhands. He’s not sure what to do.

Tsonga looks tight and is in danger of being broken, which could be catastrophic, because he hasn’t gotten many chances to break serve so far. Tsonga answers, though, with a smash and a big serve to get to 30-30.

Tom, the only similarity to the Tsonga from that Federer match last year is that he lost the first two sets then. Not that I’d give Tsonga much chance to come back from such a deficit again. That was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of result. Meanwhile, Tsonga gets a second game point but much later than he thought he would. Murray chases down a backhand, comes back to fetch a smash and then forces Tsonga to come up with a brilliant backhand volley. Tsonga closes it out with a big serve.

Murray lost that point, but man, can he run. I remember once talking to players in Australia for a story on quickness, and they all said Murray was the fastest guy on the tour, no question. Nadal and Djokovic might move better in terms of footwork patterns and maybe anticipation, but for flat-out running, Murray is tough to beat. He pretty much hit the wall on that last point (the one behind him, and way to his left) and still stayed in the point for two more shots.

Murray, by the way, has won 93.4% of career matches after winning the first set. He’s tied at sixth in the last two decades, with a guy named Ivan Lendl. Tsonga, though, is no ordinary opponent. He’s come back from a set down twice in this tournament.

Tsonga is 18th in winning matches after dropping the first set, at 36.2%. To add to that, he’ll have to do better than he did on that last forehand, an easy one that he hit into the net. Then he loses yet another backhand-to-backhand exchange.

Murray shows off his foot speed again, fetching a Tsonga drop volley, but Tsonga hits the next volley into the open court. Murray’s speed isn’t yet winning him that many points, though it may pressure Tsonga to start going for tougher angles. Murray slips returning the next serve, and it looks bad, but he gets up and seems to be OK. 30-0.

If tennis tournaments would mic Andy Murray, man, would ratings go up. Aaaaaahhhhhh, he says after missing a backhand. Even when he’s ahead, he does a lot of muttering (and swearing). He loves sarcastic monologues, things like, “Nice one, Andy.”

Tsonga has 15 unforced errors, Murray four (before that missed shot at 30-30, anyway). Each had many more than that when they played each other a year ago in London in ping pong, during a rain delay at the annual Queen’s Club tournament. Judging from the footage, Murray has a long way to go to win any sort of table-tennis title. Since you mentioned him, Tom, here’s some footage of Andy Roddick’s table-tennis skills.

Love hold for Murray. He’s serving well, though that’s perhaps deceptive, because Tsonga is a weak returner. This really is the perfect semifinal opponent for Murray. And to me, Federer is a better final opponent than Djokovic, because Federer doesn’t break serve nearly as often as he used to. Of course, he’s Federer, which is always a problem.

Approaching to Murray’s forehand has been dangerous for Tsonga, who must play a tough half volley and puts it into net. Two break points. He saves the first — just. Murray gets a look at a backhand pass but can’t bring it into the court.

Nobody ever accused Tsonga of lacking boldness. He’s serve-and-volleying when facing break points, and he’s getting away with it. He left a Murray return, and it went just wide. Then an ace, and Tsonga has a point to hold.

Murray is still moving great and Tsonga looks almost nervous about moving forward — which is the only thing he can do to win. He’s playing aggressively and is in danger every point. Welcome to modern tennis!

Murray wins two more points with stinging returns that a serve-and-volleying Tsonga can’t handle, then Tsonga gets tentative and stays back, which also doesn’t work — he rips a forehand wide. Murray is in good position to go up two sets to none.

Murray holds at love and has won 11 straight points on serve. Great start to the day for British tennis players whose last names start with M and end with “rray.” Jonathan Marray and his doubles teammate Danish teammate Frederik Nielsen are up two sets on the defending champions Mike and Bob Bryan, one set away from the final.

Tsonga keeps coming to net and starts getting some right, going up 40-15. His problem is he can’t get to net on Murray’s serve, or get much traction at all, yet he needs a break to get back in this set.

Relatively easy hold for Tsonga, who closes out a serve-and-volley point with an easy putaway at net. Tom, I agree that Murray would be glad to get Federer instead of Djokovic in the final, because of Djokovic’s stronger return — though Federer’s return was very good today. No doubt Murray would be glad to get a chance to win this tournament without having to face Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the two most recent champions here and, until the next rankings come out, the two best players in the world.

Murray holds again at love and has won 15 straight on serve. His serve is totally flummoxing Tsonga. Then he opens the next game with a backhand winner, and after Tsonga wins a point, Murray rattles off an inside-out backhand return winner. 15-30. Two Tsonga serve-and-volley winning points get him to 40-30, then three points later he pulls out the win with another nice volley off the serve.

The transcripts for the Federer and Djokovic press conferences are in, so let’s see how they view the final. Djokovic says Federer will be the favorite, “considering the history that he has at Wimbledon, yes, probably.” Federer says that after some big wins over him by Tsonga last year, “I know he can do it again. That’s why I also respect Jo in a big way. And then against Andy, obviously I have I think a losing record against him. I know how good Andy is.”

Also notable: Federer says he wants to get Murray here. That is also the tournament’s dream matchup, because Murray is British and Federer is the beloved six-time champion. Federer: “Of course I’d love to play Murray. I always say in whatever country I am I like to play the local hero, I kind of call them, and Andy is exactly that here at Wimbledon. So I hope the match comes along, even though I like Jo very much. Here it would be very special playing against him…. Let’s be happy that [Andy is] such a great player that he lets that sort of hype last because he always remains in the tournament for so long. I think that’s what’s particular about it. He’s only going to get better as time goes by. That’s what he’s been proving. It’s going to be interesting to see if he’s going to make it to the finals. I’d love it, you know.”

Murray is up to 17 straight on his serve. Tsonga served this well to beat Federer this year; now he’s feeling what it’s like to be on the other end of such a good serving performance. And finally Tsonga breaks the streak with a rifled backhand approach shot down the line and good net play. 30-15.

It’s partly Murray’s big serving and partly Tsonga’s weak returning that accounts for the ease with which Murray is winning so far. Tsonga missed an easy backhand return on a second serve, and Murray got two set points. He won the first as Tsonga missed another easy backhand long. Tsonga leaves the court to get treatment.

Meanwhile the Bryans are back in their semifinal match, taking the third set in a tiebreaker, 7-4, over Liverpool native Jonathan Marray and his Danish doubles teammate Frederik Nielsen. Marray and Nielsen are up two sets to one.

Man with a British accent yells “C’mon Tsonga!” He has been removed from the stadium and made to run repeatedly up Wimbledon Hill Road — especially now that Tsonga, Mr. Comeback, has broken serve. Sloppy, sloppy game from Murray. Forehand into the net from close range, forehand long, some rushed tactics.

Yeah, not so much, though they may take what they can get — and they do love seeing Federer win. I think it’s been a very long time since British men have won the doubles.

As John McEnroe mentioned on the BBC broadcast, this is reminiscent of Tsonga’s comeback from two-sets-to-none down to Federer in last year’s quarterfinal here. Federer opened the third set with a weak service game.

Murray starts the Tsonga service game with a backhand passing winner, but Tsonga looks energized as he races to 30-15. Then he serves and volleys and his volley clips the net cord before bouncing back to his own side. Someone knight that net.

And then he stays back on game point before coming forward and putting away a drop volley. This is starting to feel like a match. (Or as John McEnroe said as I typed that, “All of a sudden we have a match here.”)

That grueling match against David Ferrer has not tired out Murray. He continues to run baseline sprints. Tsonga is hitting harder now and missing less often, and he’s looking better around the net. Tough combination.

Tom, I was just thinking about that Ferrer match. While Murray still looks fresh, that he’s running so much isn’t a great sign. It shows that Tsonga’s strategy is starting to pay off. And now Murray looks tight, falling behind 30-40 on his serve and hitting his first serve deep by a mile. Tsonga again makes the mistake of seeking help from the British net cord, which pushes his sliced approach shot back onto his side of the court.

Murray is in a major slump out here. Missing first serves. Missed an easy backhand to fall behind 30-40, then another first serve miss, then he’s lucky that a Tsonga chip and charge hits the net and doesn’t roll over. This is the sort of stuff that his coach, Ivan Lendl, hates. He rightly thinks it’s a waste of energy and hurts your chances in the next match.

Murray holds when Tsonga hits an awful shank backhand. Then Tsonga misses another backhand to start his service game after three successive shots by the two players look like they catch the baseline. Murray has an opening here to get back in the set, though Tsonga gets back to 15-15 with another serve and volley, this time executing a difficult forehand drop volley. Murray is being given the runaround.

Good points, Carl. I think this kind of running is fine, though. He’s sprinting, but just once or twice. And then they play three short points. Against Ferrer, it was all long rallies, and then sprints, and then more rallies. That’s when it starts to hurt. He’s getting a lot of rest out here on the fast points.

True, a lot of stopping and starting. Tsonga saves Murray from any more running when he hits a smash into the net. Murray got away with a very poor lob attempt there. Tsonga has one of the best smashes in the sport. Then Murray gets a break point when Tsonga fluffs a volley and Murray converts the easy passing shot. That missed smash will be painful for Tsonga if it proves critical in the match.

Maybe Tsonga’s backhand is no good because he can’t decide what kind of backhand he has. Hits a two-handed winner the last game. This game, hits a one-handed slice and two one-handed drives. I’ve watched him practice a lot, and he’s always goofing off on his backhand, trying one-handed bombs and topspin. The point: If you practice a casual stroke, the stroke won’t be very reliable. Strange thing for a pro, especially one who has such an assertive serve and forehand.

I think Tsonga’s one-hander looks at times even better than his two-hander. I agree it’s baffling that he switches off. All part of the unpredictable ride that is watching a player as creative as Tsonga without a coach to help him direct that creativity and talent. Sometimes, it adds up to brilliance. Speaking of brilliance, Murray fired a whip of a forehand passing shot that Tsonga could only graze with his racket as he dove to the grass. 0-15.

Tsonga loves the diving volley — sometimes, too much. He dives and misses on a ball that didn’t require a dive. Even if he had hit it, he would have been on the ground, giving Murray an open court. I do like watching him dive, however.

Murray may make the most puzzling challenges of top players. He challenged a Tsonga serve two games ago that was way in. There he challenged a forehand that landed near his view and on the inside of the sideline. Tsonga follows with an ace, then Murray hits a backhand passing shot winner on return and it’s 30-30. More trouble on the Tsonga serve, though he gets to 40-30 with another ace.

Another tough hold for Tsonga, who closes it out at net by hitting a forehand half volley behind Murray. That is a tough shot to hit against anyone, let alone someone as fast as Murray. Murray needs to hold then break to stay in this set.

Meanwhile, over on court 12, Marray-Nielsen lead the Bryan brothers 3-0 in the fourth-set tiebreaker. If Marray-Nielsen win the set they win the match and go to the final, guaranteeing at least one British man in a final here.

Murray has one challenge left and uses it on a second serve. This time he’s right — just — and gets a first serve. He first asked to see the ball, liked what he saw — probably some chalk, or what they use instead of chalk these days, I think titanium paste — and challenged. Seemed like he pushed the limit of the challenge rule in waiting that long, but he gets the call and then the point.

Tsonga’s backhand is looking better as it keeps him in two points. He wins the first on a Murray error but loses the second on a classic Murray combo: drop shot and lob. I expected more of that entertaining cat-and-mouse play between these two. Murray holds with a 113-mph first serve that Tsonga can’t return.

Tsonga, serving for the set, starts by missing a forehand badly. He follows it up with a strong first serve, though: 131 mph. Meanwhile, in good news for the local fans, Marray-Nielsen have won the fourth-set tiebreaker to upset the Bryan brothers and advance to the doubles final.

Murray apparently has absorbed some lessons from his coach, Ivan Lendl. He punishes Tsonga for a bad drop shot by firing a forehand right at him. It appears to hit Tsonga in a rather delicate spot. Tsonga doubles over in pain, Murray approaches net to see how he’s doing, and Tsonga gets up to play on as the crowd cheers him. In a word: ouch. Tsonga bravely approaches the net again, Murray fires another forehand this way and this time Tsonga steps aside. Murray gets a hometown call of in, which Tsonga overturns with a challenge. 30-30.

Tsonga serves and volleys again, and a Murray reply hits the netcord but drops on his own side. The net apparently took pity on Tsonga for that body blow two points earlier. Murray nets a backhand return off a weak second serve to give Tsonga the third set.

Tsonga has left the court for a break. Murray doesn’t want to get cold so he gets up to bounce around and stay loose for his next service game. When Tsonga came back from two sets to none down against Roger Federer last year in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Tsonga was at his most dangerous when returning early in each of the last three sets. Last set Murray started his serving very poorly, was broken and never got in the set. He’ll have to do better here. Tsonga is back and ready to return.

Tsonga gets to 30-30 after Murray hits a forehand approach shot off the netcord and wide, but misses his chance to get to break point when he misses an easy backhand. 40-30. He nets another to give Murray the first game of the set. Tsonga may regret not doing more with that opening.

The crowd seems very anxious, which isn’t helping Murray. Twice they interrupted his concentration between first and second serves in that game by calling out. Meanwhile Tsonga goes back on the attack, ripping a forehand approach shot and a big first serve to get to 30-0.

Murray’s second serve has been really good at this tournament, but Tsonga is making his life easier by missing easy returns. He just netted an 81-mph offering to give Murray a 30-0 lead, then sent a backhand return long off an 84-mph second serve to give Murray the 40-0 edge.

Possible explanation for Tsonga’s slow start, his strange backhand and his nice half volleys of late: At Queen’s Club before Wimbledon, he fell and trapped his pinky under his racket. He thought he had broken it, but it turned out to be a sprain. He keeps retaping it to give it support. He also has struggled with a bad back this tournament, which could explain a tight start, and now perhaps it is loosening up. As for the half volleys, there’s speculation from those who watch Tsonga a lot that he is changing his grip on his backhand and volleys to make hitting the ball less painful (because of his finger). Seems like he might be playing with a strong Continental grip on that side. If this is the case, strange indeed. Murray holds for 2-1.

Tsonga wins a cat-and-mouse point when he returns a Murray drop shot and Murray can’t make the subsequent volley. But then Murray rips another forehand passing shot winner to hold. Tsonga looked either tentative or overconfident on that approach — he didn’t seem ready to hit a volley.

Murray breaks in impressive fashion, hitting two forehand winners and forcing Tsonga to dive for a passing shot, which led to a Tsonga error. Tsonga isn’t ready to go away yet, though, retrieving a pinpoint Murray lob and then hitting a forehand passing shot to get to 15-30 on Murray’s serve.

And at 30-30, Tsonga hits a one-handed backhand passing shot on the run. Murray swears. That grip does look funky, and so does the swing. Seems like he’s trying to hold onto the racket without gripping it, because it hurts. Murray saves one break point but Tsonga earns another with another one-handed backhand — what is going on? — and a drop half volley. Beauty.

Murray hits a second serve, Tsonga steps around his backhand and crushes a forehand. He’s hitting his forehand so hard now. Murray gets low but can’t handle the pace and dumps a backhand into the net. We’re back on serve. And all of Britain starts to worry… and worry and worry and worry.

You could see that coming: Murray misses a first serve, Tsonga gets set to run around to hit a forehand return, he rips one and Murray can’t handle it. We’re back on serve, and to a very mutter-y crowd.

If there’s such a thing as vintage Tsonga, we’re seeing it here, much as we saw vintage Federer in the third and fourth sets of the last semifinal. That big forehand return was reminiscent of one he hit to win the second set of his World Tour Finals title match against Federer last year. Then at 0-15 on his serve, after a great Murray drop-shot winner, Tsonga dove for yet another volley, and this time made it. And also in vintage Tsonga land, he stopped a point he was very much in to challenge a Murray ball that was very much in. 40-30.

Big moment here for Murray. He calmly chips a backhand and draws an error, then hits a good serve. He has the advantage because he’s serving first in the set. Has to keep the pressure on Tsonga and hope he hits a rough patch — which happens a lot with Tsonga. 40-15 as Tsonga slips and bangs his pinky on the ground. He drops his racket and shakes his hand and winces. Murray holds.

Tsonga also came back from two sets to none down against Djokovic in the semifinal last year, winning the third set in a tiebreaker, 11-9. Djokovic closed it out in the fourth set, though. Murray should think only about that match, and not the Tsonga-Federer match from last year.

Tsonga goes for a big second serve and plays serve and volley on double break point. Murray hits a good return, Tsonga volleys and Murray slips and tumbles over. At 30-40, Tsonga hits a drop volley, Murray flicks a lob, Tsonga scrambles and blasts a forehand. Murray dives to his right but his volley is wide. Deuce.

Tsonga can break here and serve to force a fifth set. Murray, though, saves the first break point when a Tsonga return goes just long. Then Murray hits a 131-mph serve that is called out. Murray challenges and is right, and rightfully angry that he’ll have to serve again instead of getting the point.

It’s hard to tell Tsonga to ease up on the ball after he’s gotten such good results by hitting out on his forehand, but that was a second easy forehand return off a second serve he’s missed late in this game. Another deep forehand gives Murray the hold. Tsonga will serve to try to stay in the match.

Lots of pressure here on Tsonga as Murray has made headway in Tsonga’s recent service games. He’ll need more first serves if he wants a comfortable hold. Instead he hits a second serve, pounds three or four risky forehands and finally draws a Murray error.

Tsonga lands two first serves and finishes off Murray at the net. 40-0. Great showing to start after the disappointment of not breaking. Then Tsonga misses a first serve and a backhand slice down the line.

Now the bad-call bug has bitten the chair umpire. Carlos Ramos with a gaffe, he overrules and calls a Tsonga shot wide when it hits the line, as replay later shows. Tsonga was in position for an easy winning volley. “Oh no, no, no, no!” He says. But no harm. They replay the point and Tsonga holds serve.

Tsonga keeps the pressure on in Murray’s service game. He doesn’t win the first point after approaching net, but perhaps the possibility of having to pass Tsonga works on Murray’s nerves, as he double faults and then misses an easy forehand. It’s nice to see him step up and rip the forehand in this match, but it remains a very inconsistent shot.

Nice slice second serve there from Murray at 15-30. Great play on grass, though it’s a bit risky. Tsonga hits it long and it’s 30-30. Another first serve miss, but Tsonga makes another bad return into the net and it’s 40-30.

And what an ending for Murray — except it isn’t. He smashes a return of serve winner crosscourt, he drops his racket and covers his face, but the call is out. Murray is miffed. Both players walk to the net and Tsonga leans on the net, laughing. They can’t shake hands yet. Murray challenges, and the ball clipped the line. He’s in the Wimbledon final. Amazing finish.

Murray, in his interview just off court, says there was no out call on the last point. Tsonga challenged and thought it was out. Here’s what he had to say about reaching the final: “A bit of relief, excitement, yeah, tough to explain. It was such a close match in the end.” He added: “I’m so happy to be through.”

So much relief and joy in that crowd, which gave both players a standing ovation. Really, it couldn’t have been a better day for them on Centre Court: Federer and Murray, their favored players, won; each match was exciting and close, but not too close; and they got some tennis in under the roof, and then some fresh air and proper outdoor tennis.

Murray’s also asked what he thought about his parents and how they felt about it. He wasn’t “bothered,” he said, pointing out it was harder for him than for them. Also not bothered: Murray coach Ivan Lendl after the match. He kept his hand on his chin and his poker face intact. Lendl knows well that reaching the Wimbledon final isn’t enough — he fell short twice in the final here in 1986 and 1987.

Weird choice of a song for BBC as it ends its coverage with highlights: something about being a champion, with lots of shots of Murray. As he knows well, he isn’t the champion yet. He’ll have to beat Roger Federer on Sunday in the final to make those lyrics appropriate.

Nice replay on BBC of its analyst, and four-time Wimbledon semifinalist, Tim Henman, clapping for Murray’s win. Henman never made it this far. BBC doesn’t really have much pretense of objectivity here.

Andy Murray is through to his first Wimbledon final, and fourth major final, after closing out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, in a tense and occasionally thrilling semifinal. Murray will try to win his first major title against 16-time major champion Roger Federer on Sunday, with the support of fans eager to see the first British men’s singles champion at their premier tournament since Fred Perry won here in 1936.

Murray has never sought pity for the unhappy accident of his birth date. Sure, being born in 1987 meant that Murray would have to compete with the likes of Roger Federer (born 1981), Rafael Nadal (1986) and Novak Djokovic (1987) for Grand Slam titles. But Murray has competed in a way none of his peers has been able to. Those who question whether Murray should be considered in the same group as the Big Three should keep in mind that Murray has been heads and shoulders above everyone else of his era. He has more major finals than Nos. 5-24 in the rankings have, combined, and far more titles at the Masters 1000 events — top-notch tournaments that may be as difficult as majors to win but don’t satisfy British tennis fans — than the 20 men behind him in the rankings do combined. Murray demonstrated the gap between him and the rest against Tsonga, who put up little fight in the first two sets, came storming back in the third and almost pushed the match to a fifth set before faltering late. Tsonga had more firepower but Murray had more grit, faster court coverage and smarter tactics.

Now Murray will try, for the fourth time, to win a major title against a higher-ranked opponent. He’ll have to start by winning a set, something he’s failed to do in his three prior major finals, including two to Federer. This time, at least, Murray will have the support and also the expectations of the crowd behind him. Such attention can be a mixed blessing: It may have contributed to the 11-match losing streak by British men in Wimbledon semifinals that Murray ended on Friday.

If he wins the final, Murray will have cast off the double burden of being the best current player, maybe best ever, without a major — and of being the best British hope since Perry to break the slump. If he loses, he will tie his coach Ivan Lendl with four losses in his first four career finals. That won’t be the end of the world: Lendl ended up winning eight major singles titles, though never Wimbledon. But it may feel that way for Murray’s fans, since he’d have blown the opportunity to win here without facing Nadal nor Djokovic. Since they’re almost the same age as Murray is, he may not get many such chances during his prime.

Comments (5 of 22)

Price of thetickets are not very fair, how much is a ticket these days? Its been awhile since I have been personally, Fed really did do a good job and I couldnt be any more happy for him, you can check out my blog on Wimbledon 2012 http://www.squidoo.com/wimbledon-2012-tennis
Nick

3:57 am July 8, 2012

Anonymous wrote:

Best of British to Andy Murray on sunday, I will be drinking from my lucky Alison Gardiner Union Jack fine bone china mug..get hold of one now as should see as through the olympics as well http://bit.ly/MMwuK3

4:20 pm July 6, 2012

Anonymous wrote:

Well done and congratulations to Andy. The tournament is now his to lose. He has beaten Federer, although not in a Grandslam but he has the groundstrokes, the serves and has built up the stamina to go all the way. Rest, relax and come out and give it your all. Federe is a great champion and he will be ready, so you have got to win it. Best wishes!

3:14 pm July 6, 2012

Anon wrote:

Irish = English at Wimbledon, get over it dorks. If you watched any of Murray's matches you would see the Brits are clearly rooting for him. He is the hometown favorite.

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